1991 Criterion LaserDisc: This sounds pretty natural, although high-gen elements were obviously used for the transfer given the amount of background noise here. A constant whine is present at 2.3 kHz, but it's easy to ignore after a while. ~5 minutes of footage (4:50) are missing relative to the 2017 restoration.
2003 Umbrella Entertainment DVD: Like the Criterion LaserDisc but with audible clipping during two loud scenes.
2005 Criterion DVD: Awful. Possibly a new transfer of the same elements, but one that was then subjected to extreme hiss and bass reduction. Everything sounds garbled and distant. The ~5 minutes of footage are still missing.
2009 Criterion Blu-ray: Identical to the 2005 Criterion DVD but with a handful of clipped peaks.
2017 BFI Blu-ray: A new, very different transfer and mastering that reinstates the footage missing from earlier releases. I believe this was sourced from lower generation elements, but the rather aggressive noise reduction really undermines that. There's a notable treble and bass boost as well. It has a significantly lower noise floor than the Criterion LaserDisc, which often does make dialogue easier to parse, but I'd say a good chunk of low-level ambient detail within that noise has been removed as well. It all sounds very artificial.
2017 TF1 Blu-ray: Identical to the BFI Blu-ray.
I bought the 1999 Criterion DVD, thinking maybe it was a straight LaserDisc port... no dice.
ReplyDeleteSame picture transfer, but awful audio nothing like the 1991 LD. The worst of both worlds.